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Traditional Imperial Banquet from Beihai Flavors Taipei

Published: 2026-09-25 👁 100 views

Last updated 2026-09-25 — From now until April 14, The Westin Taipei - Luohu Palace, the only five-star hotel in Taipei with a Beijing cuisine restaurant, will exclusively launch the “Traditional Beihai Imperial...

From now until April 14, The Westin Taipei - Luohu Palace, the only five-star hotel in Taipei with a Beijing cuisine restaurant, will exclusively launch the “Traditional Beihai Imperial Specialty Banquet” at Yi Yuan Beijing Cuisine. Executive Chef Yang Dexing uses northern Chinese cooking techniques such as stir-frying, deep-frying, and braising, highlighting the flavors of Beijing cuisine—salty, sweet, spicy, and sauce-rich—combining healthy ingredients and creativity to offer four signature à la carte dishes: Dad’s Beer Belly, Abalone Hand-Pulled Noodles, Spicy Dried Chili Fish Head with Crispy Tofu, and Purple Rice Salted Duck Wings. These dishes recreate the dining pleasures of ancient nobles and officials, allowing diners to experience the charm of authentic Beijing cuisine.

Dad’s Beer Belly is a creative dish made with sheep or pig stomach. (Photo provided by Luohu Palace)

Dad’s Beer Belly is a creative stewed dish primarily featuring sheep or pig stomach. The chef specially uses Taiwanese beer instead of water to braise the meat, utilizing the enzymes in the beer to make the meat more tender. This soup dish not only emphasizes premium ingredients but also requires the stomach to be cooked until tender and silky to achieve this rich and flavorful delicacy. As for old Beijing-style dumplings, the rare Abalone Hand-Pulled Noodles are made fresh upon order. The chef takes hand-pulled dough with firm elasticity, stretches it by hand into thin yet intact wide noodles over boiling water, then quickly separates them into flat noodle sheets by hand. The resulting noodles are smooth, fragrant, and have great chewiness.

Yi Yuan regularly introduces special Beijing-style dishes. (Photo provided by Luohu Palace)

Old Beijingers often say, “No banquet is complete without fish,” because in the past, Beijing was inland and seafood was scarce, making sea fish even more precious. Therefore, this premium dish served to honored guests—Spicy Dried Chili Fish Head with Crispy Tofu—requires the use of high-quality deep-sea fish. The chef explained that controlling the heat when cooking the fish head and balancing the ratio of the dry-braising sauce are especially crucial, and he adjusts the proportions for each fish head to achieve the most refined and perfect flavor. Among Beijing’s famous whole duck banquets, salted duck liver is considered the best cold appetizer. Executive Chef Yang says that the plump duck wings are equally outstanding. For the Purple Rice Salted Duck Wings, he specially selects meaty duck wings from Yilan force-fed ducks, braising them for a long time with purple rice, traditional Chinese herbs such as angelica and goji berries, Shaoxing wine, and salt to create a deeply flavorful dish. If you haven’t had the chance to visit Beijing to taste imperial cuisine, take this opportunity to indulge your palate.